


Improvisation and Introductions

by Arisprite, username_goes_here



Series: Yuuko Ichihara’s Hitsuzen: Four Star Restaurant and Bar [15]
Category: xxxHoLic
Genre: Doumeki's Roommates - Freeform, M/M, Malfunctioning cookware is the bane of Watanuki's existence, Pizza, happy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 15:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6120475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arisprite/pseuds/Arisprite, https://archiveofourown.org/users/username_goes_here/pseuds/username_goes_here
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Watanuki's oven lets him down, Doumeki steps in and saves the day... or at least the pizza. His roommates are eternally happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Improvisation and Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> An update! I've been sitting on this piece, as I waited to get a substantial bit done on the one after, since it's going to be a long one. Also, to let you guys know that I'll probably be putting this on hiatus for a little while after I get that one up, so I can work on some other projects, and also take care of things irl. :) Won't be too long, I love writing this too much! 
> 
> The idea for the broken oven, and meeting LaVon and the others, and also LaVon's character comes from username_goes_here :)
> 
> Another thing, and not that I'm asking for more from you guys, you're wonderful, but if you're enjoying this, you can subscribe to the full series. Since they're all separate stories, it won't notify you unless you click on the series, and then hit subscribe there, rather than in the individual stories. You don't have to, but just in case you'd like to get emails for when a new story comes out. And, to take a line from Joseph Fink. Hey. Thanks. 
> 
> Gosh it sounds so warm and friendly when he does that.

“I can’t believe it,” Watanuki said, staring. His oven, his beautiful oven, with the gas stove on top, and the adjustable racks and, okay yes it was a little small, and wouldn’t a two door oven be nicer, but that was beside the point! His oven had been part of the reason he’d chosen this apartment over the others, even though it was bigger than he needed and slightly out of his price range at the time he’d moved out here. His _oven_! 

Hadn’t turned on. 

He’d gotten home with Doumeki fifteen minutes ago, arms loaded with pizza toppings, and flipped on the oven to preheat. The dough had been rising for forty minutes, and was completely ready to be laid out and flattened, before slathering it with sauce, and cheese and meats to make a delicious, perfect homemade pizza. Doumeki’s stomach was growling audibly. And. And. 

“What is it?” Doumeki asked, looking up from his chopping. 

“The oven’s not on.” 

Doumeki resumed cutting up the peppers, a steady click click on the cutting board, that made Watanuki idly wonder why he’d never applied to work in the kitchens. 

“You forget?” he asked, and Watanuki, in the daze of horror and betrayal, wondered. Did he? He dove forward, and flicked the knob back and forth. No beep, no internal hum as the mechanisms began heating. Nothing. 

“No. I- I didn’t forget, it didn’t turn on. It won’t turn on! My oven’s broken!” Watanuki probably shouldn’t be so surprised. It happened, didn’t it? Doumeki set down his knife, and came over to try the knob himself. 

“Yeah, looks like it.” 

Watanuki’s hands, which had been floating up to tangle in his hair, snapped down to his hips. 

“I told you that, didn’t I?” he said, sharply. “What am I going to do? I’ll have to call a, who do you call to fix an oven? A handyman?” 

“Your manager,” Doumeki said, opening the oven door and peering in, before standing up. Watanuki snapped his fingers. 

“Right, of course. But, right now, oh, dammit our pizzas! We’ve got everything ready!” His mind went to any of his neighbors, but the only one that he’d even consider imposing on like that was Himawari, because she was nice like that, and always loved when he shared food with her, which of course he would. But, he knew she was over at a family dinner, because of the baby. 

“We were celebrating! What are we supposed to do?” Doumeki was done with finals, which was the start of _summer_ and Watanuki had wanted to try out this pizza dough recipe. But now _that_ wouldn’t happen!

Doumeki lifted his eyebrows, looking a little amused at Watanuki’s meltdown, well, excuse me, it wasn’t every day one of his vital pieces of equipment failed him. 

“I do have an oven, you know. It even works.” 

Watanuki took a breath, about to expound on why that was a _terrible_ idea, and that he should just shut up and let him think- when, it really processed. 

“Oh.” He let out that same breath, and looked at Doumeki. “Your roommates won’t mind?” Though, according to Doumeki, they were hardly ever around anyway. 

“Not likely. Unless we don’t share.” 

“Well...” It’d be hard to get all the stuff over, but they could manage, with that flat box he’d gotten from Costco. (Yes, he’d paid for a card, though it was not often worth it, but their selection was unbeatable, even if he did scramble sometimes with what to do with bulk items). “Okay. Your couch is comfortable, anyway.” 

So, they loaded up the toppings in tupperwares, and loaded it all up into Doumeki’s back seat, before trucking it all over to the other apartment. 

“I just can’t believe that it would fail me like that!” Watanuki was saying, holding the flat box with all their supplies, while Doumeki unlocked the door. “Lots of nights I cook things without the oven, and of course, on the one night that _you_ want homemade pizza, it doesn’t work! It’s like the universe is working against me!” 

The door swung open, and Watanuki found three sets of eyes staring at him, as he stepped in first with his load. On the couch, Doumeki’s comfortable couch, and in the lounge-y arm chair, were three young guys who could only be Doumeki’s roommates. They were staring at him, and his voice stuttered to a stop, as Doumeki came in behind him. 

“Oh, hey guys,” Doumeki said, casually. “This is my boyfriend, Watanuki.” Like this sort of thing happened every day, like Doumeki introduced his _boyfriend_ to his roommates, and did Doumeki have no embarrassment whatsoever?? Watanuki felt his face go red enough for the both of them, as their eyebrows raised. In what? Surprise? Did they know that Doumeki was dating someone? Did they know that he was gay? Did they have a problem with that?? 

While Watanuki was going into a panic spiral, which had only been a couple seconds, Doumeki took the flat box from his arm, and jabbed him in the side, distracting him enough to fake a smile. 

“Hi!” he said, and then winced. Really upbeat there. He cleared his throat. “Uh- n-nice to meet you all.” 

“Yeah, you too,” said one of the guys, a tall, gangly blond one, who looked slightly out of it. Maybe he was tired? Next to him on the couch, a really buff black guy swatted him. 

“Caleb! Are you telling me you knew that Mr. Secret-keeper was dating someone?” 

“You didn’t?” Caleb asked him, and the other guy sputtered. 

“W-well, yeah, but that’s because I’m his friend, and he tells me things and man, I don’t spread around a friend’s secrets like that!” 

“It’s okay, LaVon,” Doumeki said, setting the flat box on the counter behind them. Doumeki’s kitchen was tiny and kind of sad, and the counter was practically right there in the living room. 

“Yeah, Caleb knows everything, I don’t know why you’re surprised,” said the third boy, a rotund guy with straight black bangs and a video game controller in his hands. They hadn’t paused the game, and so LaVon’s figure was getting blasted. 

LaVon looked at his roommates, arms in the air. Watanuki felt a sudden kinship with him. 

“And here I thought Doumeki and I had a _bond_ of trust, but turns out the news is last week’s paper! C’mon man!” 

Doumeki huffed, and came over to pluck the control from LaVon’s hands, saving his little man on the screen. 

“I told you, LaVon. Who knows how Caleb found out.” 

“I know all,” Caleb said, eyes on the game. 

“Scary thing is, it’s true,” said the third boy, just before he won the level. 

Watanuki chuckled uncomfortably, and hovered in the edge of the living room, while Doumeki handed LaVon back the controller, and gestured around the room. 

“Caleb, LaVon, and Sam,” he said to Watanuki, pointing around the room at each of them. Sam was the one that Watanuki wasn’t remembering, so he put the name to the face. 

“Watanuki, like he said.” Watanuki pointed awkwardly at himself. “I heard you have a working oven.” 

Caleb nodded, “Nothing’s gone in it except Sam’s chimichangas, so it should be good to go.” 

“Hey, those are damn good chimichangas and you know it,” Sam replied, going to another level of the game in swift movements. 

“Yeah, well, as long as it turns on, I’ll be happy. Mine broke.” 

“Sucks man.” LaVon said, standing up and heading over to the kitchen. “What were you making- ohh, don’t tell me you were making homemade pizzas?” 

“Still making homemade pizzas,” Watanuki said, putting his fist into his palm. 

“And yes, you guys can have some,” Doumeki said, moving over to take the tupperwares out of the box, and pushing LaVon out of the way. Watanuki nodded, more than willing to both share and show off a bit for these people who apparently knew Doumeki well enough to tease him and make his shoulders loosen in that way he only did when he was comfortable. Then Watanuki blinked, and wondered when he’d started paying attention to stuff like that? Oh well. 

“It’s not like we won’t have enough, since I planned on feeding _your_ endless pit of a stomach,” Watanuki said, elbowing Doumeki in the ribs when he stepped up behind him, to grab the box. There was a general cheer from the roommates, and the game restarted with Caleb and Sam over in the living room, and LaVon leaning on the counter to smell the sauce he’d prepared. 

“Oh wow! That smells amazing, man!” he said, looking rapturous. Watanuki blushed a tiny bit, pleased. 

“It’s my own recipe,” Watanuki said. LaVon grinned, and then glanced at Doumeki. 

“Lucky bastard, this is why you’ve stopped stealing my cereal, isn’t it?” 

Doumeki didn’t even have the decency to look shame faced, but Watanuki still frowned at him. 

“Really? That’s what you ate before I came along? That’s just sad,” Watanuki said, spreading out the sauce, and beginning to sprinkle toppings on the first of the pizzas. 

“Hey man, it was good cereal,” LaVon said. “That makes it worse.” 

Watanuki shared a look of exasperation with LaVon about Doumeki’s terrible eating habits. 

“Now he’s moved on to stealing food from me, not to mention demanding what I haven’t made yet. He’s hopeless.” 

“Mhm, I believe it,” LaVon said, and Watanuki chuckled. 

“I shouldn’t have let you two in the same room,” Doumeki said, dryly, and Watanuki frowned at him. 

“Excuse me, I am just trying to be _polite_.” He put his nose in the air. Doumeki flicked a pepper at him. 

“Hey!” Watanuki snapped, watching it fall on the floor. Well, at least it was Doumeki’s kitchen. “Well, you’ll have to clean that up.” 

Doumeki stooped and did that, and the conversation moved on, Watanuki chatting with LaVon, Sam and Caleb when they wandered over, and swatting Doumeki’s hand whenever he reached for a topping. He learned that LaVon played soccer for the school, liked seafood, and had won a spelling bee in elementary school. Sam was hugely into video games and movies and was a student in film, although he was already moderately famous as a short film director online anyway. About Caleb he learned...nothing. Seriously, the guy had talked, but Watanuki couldn’t think of a single bit of information about his life, interests or anything. It was weird. 

Watanuki shrugged it off, enjoying himself anyway, as he bent to put the pizzas in the oven. They were loaded up with all sorts of toppings, plus various cheeses that Doumeki’s roommates had just happened to have had in their fridge. It would certainly be a flavorful pizza, and Watanuki refrained from being nitpicky about the ratio of sauce to cheese, and the layering of the toppings, though he usually would have been. 

The pizzas came out with a ding, and burst of delicious aroma. Watanuki pulled out one and then the other to the sounds of awe, setting them down on the counter, and standing back. 

“Ahh, wow!” LaVon leaned in and smelled. “That’s amazing!” 

“Looks good,” Caleb smiled, turning to rummage in the drawer for a pizza slicer. 

“Mmm,” Sam said. 

Watanuki blushed under all the praise, and then pointedly glared at the one person who hadn’t mentioned anything, and who was taking the slicer and rolling into the pizzas, as if Watanuki hadn’t slaved away in two kitchens for them. His own boyfriend had been pretty silent through all this. Doumeki picked up a far-too-hot-to-eat-yet slice, and took a bite. 

“Well,” Watanuki said, voice sharp. “Does it meet your approval?”

Doumeki smirked, probably knowing very well what he was poking at, and put his arm around his neck. He dragged Watanuki, squirming, closer and pecked his cheek with his still full mouth. Watanuki flailed and smacked him away. 

“Gah! Wha- why would you do that, you bastard!” Watanuki huffed, and pouted, turning away from him, and folding his arms. Doumeki was huffing, that silent, dumb laugh he got, and the rest of the roommates were hooting and laughing too. Watanuki, in other circumstances, would have probably gotten really upset about that. Doumeki knew how he felt about pda, and usually was super respectful of that. But, as Watanuki dramatically wiped away the guy’s kiss, he found he wasn’t that upset. He’d act like he was, because that was how Doumeki knew he wasn’t really mad at him. It startled him to realize that was how they’d fallen into operating, but there it was. 

Doumeki was smirking at him, comfortable and happy to tease him, and Watanuki wondered when he’d realized that he could tell if Doumeki was happy? Watanuki sighed, and jabbed a finger at the guy. 

“You should be _grateful_ for that pizza! My sweat and blood went into the that-” 

“Gross,” said Sam, and Watanuki narrowed his eyes at him. 

“Sweat and blood! It’s a masterpiece of a pizza!” 

“Bit garlicky, I’d say,” said Caleb, and Watanuki dropped his jaw. 

“How-” he stammered, unable to even believe that this guy he’d just met… actually, it was feeling familiar. This apartment deserved each other. 

“Don’t listen to them all, Watanuki,” LaVon said, face still rapturous, and mouth full. “I think it’s wonderful!” 

Doumeki, still smiling, took another bite. “It is good,” he conceded, and Watanuki nodded, proudly. 

“Well, good,” he said, and finally, lifted a slice to his own mouth to try it for himself. 

It was a bit garlicky.


End file.
